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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Advent Calendar Extravaganza is -the- festive event of the season! This ‘hop with a twist’ was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and
features surprise destinations each day! Joining in the fun with
Taheerah are over 60 special guests - each serving up some fantastic
Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you’ll never know
where you’re going to be visiting next until you ‘open the door’!

Behind today's door is this pillow box I made.

Products used:

Avery Elle

Paper Sweeties

Eyelet Outlet

And
that’s not all! With 25 *amazing* sponsors taking part as well, your
crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize
EVERY SINGLE DAY!! Speaking
of Avery Elle ... they are today's fabulous sponsor! Make sure you
comment to be elegible to win a prize!! Have a great holiday season!Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises wait behind the door!

Monday, December 7, 2015

My friend Virginia has been hosting this amazing challenge called Virginia's View for a while. It's one of the most popular challenges in the card making world. She always gets hundreds of entries from some of the most talented designers in the industry. I've entered her challenge a few times and once I had the honor of being selected as a favorite. It was quite flattering considering the tough competition.

I have admired Virginia's work for a long time. Back when I was somewhat of a newbie, I used to faithfully follow a challenge blog called Lily Pad Cards. That's where I discovered Virginia. She was a design team member. Though the challenge no longer exists, I kept following Virginia's work and eventually we became blog friends. She is such a sweet, kind person.

Like all of us, Virginia has a busy life, which is why she is taking a much-needed break from the challenge. While I'm sad to see the challenge on hold, I totally understand.

I am entering the challenge in support of my friend with this glittery card. The theme is "All About Glitter."

To create this card, I started with a Tim Holtz sun ray stencil. I spread embossing paste that I had colored blue with distress ink onto the stencil. After carefully lifting it off the paper, I sprinkled glitter embossing powder onto the card. The powder only sticks to the wet paste. Using my heat gun, I melted the glittery powder to give the rays their sparkle.

Next, I adhered the poinsettia flower I had stamped using the Wplus9 layered poinsettia stamp and dies. I colored the inside with a gold gel pen and added some stickles for additional sparkle. The sentiment, also from Wplus9, was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed onto vellum paper using silver embossing powder.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Hey everyone! I am so excited! I am guest designing for Simon Says Stamp!! Here is a peak of the card I made. Not only can you see a picture of the entire card on their blog, but you can also watch a video describing how I made it!!

That's right! A video tutorial! It's my first time doing a full tutorial using editing software and voice overs so go easy on me! I hope to do more in the future!

I'm working with products from my favorite stamp and die company - Altenew! Please visit the Simon Says Stamp blog and leave me some love!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Welcome Sweeties Fans! We're kicking off December with a new challenge. We're getting into the holiday spirit with this festive inspiration photo:

In addition to the rich colors, I also found some inspiration in the round sign and the wall in the background.

Before die cutting the ornaments, I stamped them with Versamark and heat embossed them in white. I did the same with the sentiment, except I used gold embossing powder. The ornaments are "hanging" from gold twine by Martha Stewart.

To create a wood texture on the white card panel, I ran it through my Cuttlebug with a wood grain embossing folder. Then, I adhered the ornaments, the sentiment and some sequins onto the panel.

Sometimes I get hung up on how I want to lay out my card. When this happens, I turn to my Pinterest Board devoted to card sketches. Today's card was created using the sketch below, from Studio Calico. I simply rotated it by 180 degrees.

Now it's your turn to create something inspired by this month's color palette, but first, please hop along for further ideas and inspiration.

About Me

I am a devoted Christian and SAHM to two great kids. In my previous life, I did public relations for 10 years. Then I got married and became a mom. That was it. I wanted to be with my kids. I am so blessed to also have an awesome DH, too!
My interest in cards began in 2003 when my husband and I received a beautiful handmade wedding card. It felt so great to receive something custom made. I hope my cards bless others in the same way that wedding card blessed me and my husband. Enjoy!